Where Does ABC’s “S.H.I.E.L.D.” Go Now?

The most immediate question in the wake of the events in “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” is what in the hell happens to “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” now that S.H.I.E.L.D. is in disarray and anyone who was a part of the organisation may have been working for H.Y.D.R.A.?

Speaking with USA Today, executive producer Maurissa Tancharoen says the final six episodes of the season sees the game change with our agents now left to fend for themselves: “Survival is a huge part of it. There is no more tapping into big S.H.I.E.L.D. through the holo-comm. The guns you have on the plane are the guns you have. They’re basically left with the bare minimum.”

Executive producer Jed Whedon says that the characters found their identity as part of the “most massive organization ever created by man… Now they really are a ragtag bunch scraping things together.” The series has also spent time building external threats like the Clairvoyant, Centipede, and Deathlok which will now connect back to HYDRA.

Clark Gregg says the change will also have a big impact on the character of Agent Coulson going forward. After all, he is: “a company man who finds out that everything he’s dedicated his life to is not what he thought it was. To have everything dissolve around him to the point that S.H.I.E.L.D. itself is in smoking ruins (and have) that crisis of faith is such an amazing thing to explore.”

Tancharoen adds: “Hopefully people who’ve had mixed feelings about the show will now understand it was all part of a big plan.”